Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A Whole New World - Kettlebells

Kettlebell exercising is a whole new exciting world for me. To think you can get a cardio workout by swinging around a weight is awesome. What a nice change from pounding the pavement or doing aerobic 'like' workouts. I attended a kettlebell skills clinic last night and was pleased with the amount of information and instruction that the instructor gave us about kettlebells and their uses in a workout. The clinic - which was approx 1hour consisted of:
- background on kettlebells
- demo and trying of exercises that would be done in a workout
- laughs
- sweating
- questions/answers
It was a nice introduction into this world. In my opinion, this is something that a lot of fitness studios miss out on. In other studios, most of this information is given to you on class 1 after you've signed up and paid the registration fee. I was pleased that myself and 15 others could "give it a go" without any commitment (did I mention the clinic was free..).
I see myself starting a relationship with an 18 pound kettlebell in the near future. I loved challenging myself with a reasonable weight (don't usually use weight) and focusing on the techniques. I envision using kettlebells in a circuit workout (that I could do on my own), CrossFit, with my synchro athletes (great for upper body, core, cardio), in the gym at work, and the list goes on.
I would recommend this class to anyone who is looking for a change in their current fitness regimine, people who would like to add variety to their current exercise program (we have multiple kettlebells at work that I wasn't sure what to do with...) or want a low impact/challenging cardio workout. I appreciated the instructor's honesty: 2 people (in her experience) have dropped kettlebells during a workout, wrist bands help when your learning to 'rack' the kettlebell (could get a bruise on wrist), doing your workout in bare feet is recommended and also her attentiveness to the participants. I'm used to doing my own thing and learning by trial and error and is a nice change from improv to improve.

I think I'll start making kettlebell a part of my fitness journey. I'll let you know how it goes and I'm sure we'll have a respectable relationship together. Stephanie + Kettlebell = TLA <3

Fitness Log:
Yesterday: 1 hour kettlebell skills clinic
Today: coaching 1.5hours
Tomorrow: Yoga and Pole Dancing

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you got your swing on Stephanie! I love that "improv to improve" comment...very clever and appropriate.

    Enjoy your kettlebell workouts. If you ever need assistance, ideas, corrections, etc...well, you know where to find me!

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  2. Thanks Wendy - I plan on starting your classes very soon:) I definitely want to go to your studio to do this!

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